Man gets 6 years in prison for crash that killed cousin

A man who pleaded guilty to killing his cousin by speeding and driving drunk in Rockaway Township was sentenced today to six years in prison.

Elmer Santos-Castro had pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide, and his plea agreement called for him to be sentenced to seven years in prison. But Superior Court Judge Salem Ahto in Morristown said he imposed the shorter term after the victim's father appeared in court to plead for leniency and other family members wrote letters to the judge.

The victim, Byron Cruz Aguilar, 17, a Parsippany Hills High School senior, was killed last January after Santos-Castro lost control of the car in which they were riding. The car flipped and landed in a pond, trapping Cruz, who was riding in the front seat.

"I know my son is not going to come back," the boy's father, Juan Castro, told Ahto through an interpreter. "But I would like to think of our nephew. I know he's a good boy, a good college student."

The crash occurred while Santos-Castro was visiting from his native Honduras, where he was studying to become a mechanical engineer.

He admitted he had three or four drinks before getting behind the wheel and driving 70 mph on winding Mount Pleasant Avenue.

"We were together because we loved each other," Santos-Castro told Ahto, adding that he wished he could have died instead of his cousin, whom he considered a younger brother. "I didn't think, at that moment, the harm I could cause. I only wanted my cousin to be happy, that my stay here would be a cause of joy for everybody."